General settings
Found at Stores → Configuration → Byte8 → VAT Number Validator → General.
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Enable VAT Validator | Master switch. When off, no observers fire and no upstream calls are made. |
| Validate on Customer Save | Run validation when a customer / address is saved. |
| Validate on Checkout | Re-validate when the quote billing address is saved so the customer-group flip happens before totals are recalculated. |
| Request Timeout (seconds) | Hard cap per upstream call. Default 5 — keep ≥ 5 to avoid false negatives. |
| Requester Country Code | Your own ISO 2-letter code, sent to VIES so the response includes a legally-valid consultation reference. |
| Requester VAT Number | Your own VAT number, digits only. Sent to VIES alongside the requester country. |
Best practices
- Always set requester country + VAT — otherwise VIES returns a
weaker response without a
requestIdentifier, and German merchants lose their§18 UStGproof. - Don't drop the timeout below 5 seconds. VIES can take 4–5 seconds
during peak hours. A short timeout produces false
unavailableresults, which are not persisted to the audit log. - Disable Validate on Checkout only if you have an enterprise ERP that owns customer-group assignment — the customer-save observer alone catches registrations.